What's after Zombie Bite?

I'm not going to do a weekend review this weekend. I've only played video games and that's not fair for the people who come here to read what I have to say about writing (or read book reviews), so I thought that I would share something that's been on my mind for a little while. I have been working on Zombie Bite, getting it ready to publish and wondering what book bloggers to send it to when it's finally done. I decided to add a short story that I originally wasn't going to include. A very short story, which was going to be a chapter in the next book. The survivors in Zombie Bite live in a hotel and I was thinking of writing a series about them, each one told from someone else's point of view. At this moment I am not sure if I still plan to do so. I am working on getting a kindle, nook, and physical copy of Zombie Bite so that everyone can enjoy it. I also have been thinking about my next writing project a lot, and I think it's time for me to go back to something I was planning to release a long time ago. I posted a lot when I first started this blog about a novel I was writing called Hair Of The Wolf, at the time I even posted a writing sample. I gave up on it after awhile because I didn't feel my main character had the right voice. I wanted her to be emotionally scarred, and I wrote a character based on one of my ex-boyfriends. That ex-boyfriend had just been a jerk and wouldn't have caused her to have some of the reactions that she had throughout the book. I have since been in a relationship that could only be described as abusive (I have a lot to say about abusive relationships and may write a blog post on it later on). I want to rewrite parts of that novel to give her a relationship similar to mine so that she can be scarred enough to get to the place she needs to be in the book. It will take awhile to whip the book into shape, but I know that I can do it.

Why did I start writing this book?

I feel so many emotions each day that I draw closer to unleashing my werewolf novel into the world, but most of all I feel the need to share information about it. I have always loved werewolves and elements of horror. I've watched the Nightmare on Elm Street movies since I was three. When I started writing I noticed that I enjoyed writing about vampires, and ghosts (in high school I wrote a poem about Freddy Kreuger that I wish I still had. It was cute). When I got older I noticed that I still loved those things, but when writing horror I had no idea how far to go with it. Did I kill all my characters? Some of my characters? What kind of monster would scare me? I noticed that most of my writing was humorous. There was a period after high school when I stopped writing. I didn't write any stories, poems or songs. I wish I had kept writing, there are so many things that you teach yourself through writing. I had stopped reading too. By the time I was twenty-one I hadn't written for awhile. I had a job, and at my job I met a guy. I bet you know where this is going, but at first I thought he was sweet. He seemed nice, and everyone he worked with seemed to like him (at least in front of his face, behind his back they were all telling me to break up with him). I won't go into the details of our relationship, but I soon realized that I should have followed the advice of others. He treated me poorly, and said it was okay because he didn't think I liked him that much. He even ended up getting me transferred to another department because he wouldn't stop visiting me at work. I told him not to, but he did what he wanted. It took me a long time to get over the way he treated me, in some ways I'm still not over it. I almost became a person I didn't like. I dated a few guys that I wasn't really interested in just to help my self-esteem (which he had pretty much killed). I realized that wasn't the way to go. I was wasting my time by being in relationships I didn't take seriously. I decided not to date unless I found someone I actually cared about. I started writing again, but I wasn't as good as I should have been. I wrote about a girl who turns into a fox and transports blood for vampires, but my computer crashed and I lost it. I might still have the notes, maybe I'll do something with them. I took a writing class. I wrote about werewolves, but not Anyssa. I wrote about a wolf named Leah, but I realized her story probably wasn't going anywhere. In August of 2011 I was having a rough time. I couldn't pay my rent, my school work was behind (my school was ok with that), I had no money for entertainment and ended up just staying home and staring at my walls. When you do that you end up thinking of past events. I thought of the way my ex had treated me and the impact he had on me. I hadn't spoken to him in five years. I didn't know anything about his current life, but I decided to base a character off of him. I thought of it as a way to kill the lingering feelings I had toward him. I ended up making him the main character's ex who dies before the novel starts. She had to figure out why someone would have killed him. I've never wished ill on him, and don't now, I just needed a way to get rid of my feelings toward him. The story itself turned out okay, until I did a very dumb thing. I sent my ex a message on facebook. I did it mostly to tell him about my novel. I wasn't sure how I expected him to react, but he was okay with it. He wanted to hang out again. He said he changed, he said a lot of things that I hoped were true. I still had feelings for him, so I agreed, but he was still the same jerk he'd always been. I had to stop writing the novel. The hurt was too fresh, and it's never good to write about something when the hurt is that fresh. I did fill up several journals because of him, so I was getting my feelings out. I started working on a zombie novel. I really liked the zombie novel, but something about it just didn't work. I still kept working on it, it helped me grow as a writer and find what I like to write about. In 2013 the ex who inspired the character of Trevor came back. He had a girlfriend, but wouldn't stop flirting with me, texting me. He said he'd found his sd card and he said my display picture made him miss me (somewhere along the line did he forget what I looked like?). I told him I'd give being friends a shot and agreed to hang out with him (I'm too forgiving I guess). It was the last time I saw him. I thought I'd have feelings for this guy forever, since he hurt me so much, but I didn't feel anything when I saw him. He tried standing close to me, I think he tried to hug me once, but I still felt nothing. I couldn't believe how happy that made me. When he drove me back to my car I realized that I was doing most of the talking. I had nothing in common with him. I asked him about his goals and he said he wouldn't mind working the retail job he was at for the rest of his life. I was shocked. How had I dated a man who had no goals for himself? I kept working on the zombie novel for awhile, until I took a look at my files and saw the promise in this werewolf novel. I had finally distanced myself enough from my feelings that I was able to work on the story. The character of Trevor still dies, that's how the novel starts, but he's more loosely based on my ex. It wasn't to make him seem like less of a jerk, I could care less about him, it was for me. I wanted the story to be less personal. None of the other characters are based on anyone that I know, and I don't plan to ever base another character on someone I know. I am glad that something positive could come out of a relationship with so much negative. Sorry if this is too personal for some, I just thought I should share it so that maybe more people will put their feelings into art. To be honest, Trevor is such a small part of a bigger story. Yes, she has to find his killer, but is it meant as a threat to her? Can she protect her pack from the threat? The novel isn't a romance, and I don't wish anything ill toward my ex.

How do the werewolves in my novel compare to other werewolves?

Someone recently asked me how my werewolves compare to other werewolves. Do they walk on two legs or four? Are they normal wolves or some type of monster hybrid? How are they created? Are they born or bitten? Since it's getting closer to the day when I'll finally be able to publish my novel, I decided to talk about my werewolves. Anyssa Marshall, the main character of my book is a werewolf, and she was born that way. Since she's a purebred she can transform at will, and she doesn't have to transform her entire body. She does transform during the full moon, but she is always aware of her wolf. That doesn't mean she has full control, but she can sometimes stop the wolf from doing something she does not agree with. The werewolves in my story can also be created through bites or scratches, but they are not welcomed into a pack and usually die fairly soon after being bitten/scratched. They also can not transform at will. Anyssa and the members of her pack transform into 'regular' wolves, only a little bigger.



Also, here's some trivia for those of you wondering where I came up with the name Anyssa: A customer at one of my past jobs handed me a check and when I checked her id I noticed her first name was Anyssa. I had never heard of the name before and asked her to pronounce it. I loved the way the name sounded, and it must have stuck with me. I met this customer in 2009, and didn't start writing this book until 2011. I took a break from this book to write about zombies, but started writing this again when I saw it on my laptop and started reading through. I kept thinking, this is the kind of story that I would love to read.

Vampires Vs. Werewolves

In the book I'm currently editing (and hope to release sometime in August or September) there is a world full of supernatural creatures. My book focuses on a female werewolf named Anyssa, who is forced to become the alpha of her pack after the rest of her family meet a gruesome end. There are a few other werewolves who appear, but they are supporting characters. The book also includes vampires, but they have a lesser role (maybe that will change in the next book). I've been thinking recently about which I prefer, werewolves vs vampires, and the answer is werewolves. There have been interesting vampire stories, but I always prefer reading or watching the werewolf ones. Most of the time the vampires in the stories are so old, but the werewolves are usually the result of a bite. They are usually learning to cope with what happened to them. My book will feature both bitten and born werewolves, as well as an old vampire.

Book Bloggers

Part of self publishing is promotion. You have to promote yourself. I haven't been doing a lot of that since my book isn't out yet and I'm not sure when it will be. I'm not sure I know how to promote a book that isn't out yet. I haven't even written the blurb for it yet. In some ways writing the blurb is harder than writing the book. I guess because I'm too close to the project. A long time ago I remember reading Rachel Vincent's blog. She said that she didn't write her own blurbs. I was surprised, I'd always thought the author wrote those. I also found out an author doesn't really have much control over their books or how they are marketed after the rights have been sold to a publishing house. Anyway, maybe now is the time to reach out to book bloggers. I know it takes them awhile to sort through their emails and requests, but maybe I should at least start looking at book blogs. I need to find the blogs that review urban fantasy books about werewolves, and other things (I have plans for non-werewolf books too). I wouldn't mind doing some interviews after my book is released, so I need to look at those sites too. If any book bloggers happen to come across this blog and are interested in reviewing my book (no release date so far), please let me know.

Wolf Within

I think it's time I address wolf within, the story at the top of my blog. Wolf within is a story I wrote when I was in school. I actually wrote it for an assignment. I don't know how I feel about it now, but back when I wrote it I felt like I could make it into a book. I spent so much time in that world, I actually wrote a few chapters. I think with some editing it could be a good YA book, but I haven't looked at it in years. My writing style is different, my thought process is different. When I look back on that piece of writing I think about what I would do differently. For now it just shows me how I've grown.

About my ebook

I realize that I haven't posted much about what my ebook is actually going to be about. I guess that's because I'm nervous to share. I actually started writing a zombie story, which I plan to finish, just not now. Then I came across a werewolf story I'd started a long time ago. I reread it and noticed that it had a better storyline. Without another thought I started editing it. I'm really pleased with the way it came together, so I decided that it should be the first ebook I release. So what is it about? Well it's not that short story that I linked to the top of my blog. That story was a school project from when my writing was young and immature. I've grown since then. I might go back and edit/complete that story, but if I do that will be my first young adult fiction. Right now I'm putting the finishing touch on a ebook about a werewolf named Anyssa who works for the FBI, her life is turned upside down when her ex-boyfriend is murdered and she's assigned to find the killer. Right now that's all I can say about it, but I am going to try to aim for a release date late this month or early next month. It all depends on how soon I can get a cover.